Abstract
The brain is a complex system comprising a myriad of interacting neurons, posing significant challenges in understanding its structure, function, and dynamics. Network science has emerged as a powerful tool for studying such interconnected systems, offering a framework for integrating multiscale data and complexity. To date, network methods have significantly advanced functional imaging studies of the human brain and have facilitated the development of control theory-based applications for directing brain activity. Here, we discuss emerging frontiers for network neuroscience in the brain atlas era, addressing the challenges and opportunities in integrating multiple data streams for understanding the neural transitions from development to healthy function to disease. We underscore the importance of fostering interdisciplinary opportunities through workshops, conferences, and funding initiatives, such as supporting students and postdoctoral fellows with interests in both disciplines. By bringing together the network science and neuroscience communities, we can develop novel network-based methods tailored to neural circuits, paving the way toward a deeper understanding of the brain and its functions, as well as offering new challenges for network science.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5989-5995 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Neuroscience |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 34 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 23 2023 |
Funding
G.B. was supported by the Turing-Roche partnership and Royal Society IEC\NSFC\191147. H.M. was supported by National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and National Institute of Mental Health through the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative Grant R01EB028157. E.K.T. was supported by Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund NFRFE-2021-00420, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada reference number RGPIN-2021-02949. H.Z. was supported by National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative Grant U19MH114830. We thank The Kavli Foundation for organizing and supporting a convening in October 2022, “Network Science Meets Neuroscience,” which inspired this review; and Daria Koshkina for designing figures. The authors declare no competing financial interests. To achieve these goals, there is a need to facilitate greater interaction between the network science and neuroscience communities. A well-tested way is to offer interdisciplinary grants from public and private organizations, such as The Kavli Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation, that focus on developing network tools for emerging neuroscience technologies and questions, as well as support for students and postdoctoral fellows with interests in both disciplines. These grants could also support workshops and conferences that bring together researchers from both fields, and provide funding for coursework in network neuroscience at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Actively fostering collaboration between these two fields will encourage the adaptation of novel network approaches to understanding biological data, a necessary step toward advancing our understanding of the brain in health and disease.
Keywords
- Connectomics
- Network Neuroscience
- Network Science
- NeuroAI
- Neurodevelopment
- Systems Neuroscience
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Neuroscience